MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - July 28, 2019 -Artist Vito Bonanno taps into the daily emotional and social challenges of living with autism, placing his innermost feelings onto canvas. His art contains the essence of his life, feelings, thoughts, and dreams, coupled around objects or topics that "get stuck in his head", including traffic lights, grids, ceiling fans, graffiti and pop culture.
Bonanno won an Award of Excellence in a juried competition for young people with disabilities, produced by VSA Arts and sponsored by Volkswagen in 2009. He was named one of 15 emerging young artists with disabilities. His winning piece, 'Ghost Town on Davenport Avenue' was exhibited at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institute, and was part of a traveling exhibition that went on a two-year nationwide tour of the university and independent galleries. A second winning piece titled 'Southhaven People' was on exhibit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. before also partaking in the nationwide traveling exhibition that ran through September 2011.
In January 2012, Bonanno unveiled his first Solo Exhibition, Unfiltered V: Vito Bonanno Riding with the Train Girls, at Akus Gallery at Eastern CT State University. Akus Gallery Director, Elizabeth Peterson stated, "The characters, objects, and ideas that inhabit Vito Bonanno's work act and interact in striking ways. Caught within the grids and map-like structures he imagines, they are often in a struggle between multiple worlds. He has found a way to tap in the intensity of focus and insight afforded him through autism to unleash a formidable creative power and vision."
In 2015 Bonanno was one of 16 artists in the United States selected for a prestigious exhibition of previous awardees from the VSA Emerging Artists Program in the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations with sponsorship from Volkswagen Group of America.
In 2016 and 2017 Bonanno created a prolific series of works that propelled him into a variety of gallery shows, US exhibitions and projects including a group exhibition in March 2016 titled '3+ Artists: Celebrating Autism' at Lesley University in Cambridge, MASS. Bonanno was invited to participate in a group mural project at Yale University in June 2018 as part of a public art initiative. He is also an artist with ArtLifting since 2018, a non-for-profit art organization that empowers artists living with disabilities through the celebration and sale of their artwork.
For sales, commissions or general inquiries contact vito@vitobonanno.com / visit http://www.vitobonanno.com/
